Boombots is a comedic hi-tech fighting game set in the far future (the year is 15 million to be precise.) You must pick one of 10 Boombots and battle your way thru several stages in order to save the world. Boombots are robots specially designed to protect the earth from the nefarious Mandu and his legions of evil space cats. Sound silly yet?
The year is 15 million and earth has been conquered by Mandu and his alien cats from outer space. Doctor Pick, an earth scientist, has designed 10 different Boombots; Boomer, Chickie Boom, Doggie-Dog, Mobie Tank, Airplane, Hans Texas Ranger, Le Chip, Hara Hara, Pittsburgh and Evil Boom to stop this feline menace and their leader, the vile Mandu. You assume control of one of these Boombots and begin the defense of Earth.
The game control is ok, but it takes a little getting used to so you might want to practice a little before going into serious combat. The hardest time I had with this game was trying to execute a throw and ending up jumping instead. So you might want to practice up a little before hand.
The claymation-type animation is good and contains some hilarious scenes. Remember The Neverhood? This game is by the same people, and has the same touch of humor and quality found on that PC game.
There are also 5 hidden stages and 5 hidden characters. In order to unlock these characters and stages you must be undefeated for a certain amount of time. And as the game goes on it gets harder and harder to hold onto your undefeated status.
The weapons selection is different from other fighting games. Instead of just trading punches and tossing a fireball or two into the fray, each Boombot has its own selection of missiles and its own variety of throw moves — as well as its different strengths and weaknesses.
For example, Pittsburgh has weak missiles and moves very slowly, but has mean throws which can put a hurt on you. And Chickie Boom has weak throws but is fast and has killer missiles. So each Boombot requires some practice in order to do really well in the game. There is also a power meter for your weapons. If the meter goes totally empty you can’t fire missiles and must avoid your opponent while you collect more power ups. But if it gets fully charged, you have what’s called Mongo Power in which you can kick some major butt.
Boombots also has power ups in the different stages that appear at random, such as health, weapons power and the ever important Instant Mongo. However, you must act fast when these pop up. But since the computer always seems to know where the power ups are, they seem to be able to get them before you even notice. Then they have the power. You can also blow up certain towers or barrels in the different stages to find hidden power ups.
If you like a good challenge, a good laugh, good claymation and cool close up throw scenes, pick up this game and have a good time. However, if you just want a mindless blow-them-up-and-beat-the-game-in-a-half-hour title, this wouldn t be the game for you. And, lastly, aside from the fact this is a fighting game, there are no gory scenes at all which could be a plus or a minus depending on your preference.
I give this game 3 and 1/2 GiN Gems because it is a cut above the average combat game on the PlayStation.